You set the DisplayMemberPath and the SelectedValuePath to "Name", so I assume that you have a class PhoneBookEntry with a public property Name.
Have you set the DataContext to your ConnectionViewModel object?
I copied you code and made some minor modifications, and it seems to work fine.
I can set the viewmodels PhoneBookEnty property and the selected item in the combobox changes, and I can change the selected item in the combobox and the view models PhoneBookEntry property is set correctly.
Here is my XAML content:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication6.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
<StackPanel>
<Button Click="Button_Click">asdf</Button>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=PhonebookEntries}"
DisplayMemberPath="Name"
SelectedValuePath="Name"
SelectedValue="{Binding Path=PhonebookEntry}" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Window>
And here is my code-behind:
namespace WpfApplication6
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for Window1.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
ConnectionViewModel vm = new ConnectionViewModel();
DataContext = vm;
}
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
((ConnectionViewModel)DataContext).PhonebookEntry = "test";
}
}
public class PhoneBookEntry
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public PhoneBookEntry(string name)
{
Name = name;
}
public override string ToString()
{
return Name;
}
}
public class ConnectionViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public ConnectionViewModel()
{
IList<PhoneBookEntry> list = new List<PhoneBookEntry>();
list.Add(new PhoneBookEntry("test"));
list.Add(new PhoneBookEntry("test2"));
_phonebookEntries = new CollectionView(list);
}
private readonly CollectionView _phonebookEntries;
private string _phonebookEntry;
public CollectionView PhonebookEntries
{
get { return _phonebookEntries; }
}
public string PhonebookEntry
{
get { return _phonebookEntry; }
set
{
if (_phonebookEntry == value) return;
_phonebookEntry = value;
OnPropertyChanged("PhonebookEntry");
}
}
private void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
}
Edit: Geoffs second example does not seem to work, which seems a bit odd to me. If I change the PhonebookEntries property on the ConnectionViewModel to be of type ReadOnlyCollection, the TwoWay binding of the SelectedValue property on the combobox works fine.
Maybe there is an issue with the CollectionView? I noticed a warning in the output console:
System.Windows.Data Warning: 50 : Using CollectionView directly is not fully supported. The basic features work, although with some inefficiencies, but advanced features may encounter known bugs. Consider using a derived class to avoid these problems.
Edit2 (.NET 4.5): The content of the DropDownList can be based on ToString() and not of DisplayMemberPath, while DisplayMemberPath specifies the member for the selected and displayed item only.
I do the former (expose CollectionView
from the VM) but what really matters is where your filtering logic is. That should definitely be in the VM so that it can be tested, even if the view has to wire up the CollectionViewSource
to the VM. That said, I don't think there's anything particularly nasty or anti-MVVM about exposing a CollectionView from your VM.
Best Answer
Edit: See my blog post for a more detailed explanation.
When I need to achieve that, I use a IRequestCloseViewModel interface that I created.
This interface contains only one event: RequestClose. This event is raised by the ViewModel (which inherits from a ViewModelBase class AND implement IRequestCloseViewModel) when it wants to close its associated view.
In my app, all Window inherit from an abstract class ApplicationWindow. This abstract class is notified each time the DataContext changed and in the handler checks if the DataContext support the IRequestCloseViewModel. If this is the case, an event handler is set up to close the Window when the event is fired.
Alternatively, like Kent said, you can use screen controller that handle this mecanism in an external class.